First Encounter With The Enemy From The Deep [Metal Lords PVE]

[WD-334]

WD-334 watched and heard the alarms sound. That meant one thing; the ship was being evacuated. WD-334 guessed that Harris must have had a plan to evacuate, but the droid also knew that it would need to get itself off the ship as well. "Pull back! Pull back to the transport!" the droid ordered to it's forces. But they were slowly being pushed back. It would be quite something if they made it...

As they began to pull back, the door's behind the Deep One forces opened for WD's reinforcements that had boarded the ship, firing upon them from behind. If WD could feel hope, it would be feeling a lot of hope. "Hold the line! Clear a path for all to evacuate!"

As they evacuated, the other force of droids made their way toward where the ship's forces were attempting to evacuate from, ready to assist as they began to arrive to the scene.

[member="Kyle Raymus"] [member="TK-7475 (Storm Sentinal)"] [member="Fleet Admiral Harris"] @Deadeye @Haon Hafey @Xardas @AD-8 @HK-36

 

[Riamah]

More ships arrived and Ra smiled a little to herself as she learned just who they belonged to. The Shrouded Republic would certainly be of assistance here. However, before she could react to the threat heading her way, the call of Harris came to her. His ship was going down and needed extraction. Those fighters she had sent out and the people of his ship wouldn't all fit on board hers.

As much as she disliked the thought of the loss of those fighters and the droids piloting them, she knew these men were more important. Her time among the Metal Lords had started to alleviate her fear and discomfort around droids. Luckily the pilots of her fighters were on the simple side and fully individualistic droids. They had a purpose and duty. Not wavering, they flew to their inevitable deaths. That sacrifice though would allow her to save Harris and his men.

Forcing her way through the battle raging around her, if undeterred, she would bring her small fleet along side his failing ship. This was more something, Ra was equipped for and while she couldn't evacuate all of them at the same time, she would get as many as she could.

Signaling Harris and the other ships of her intentions, she launched what shuttle crafts she had to dock with Harris and pick up his men. It had been a long time since the two of them had interacted and a reunion was in order. Both of them having been within the Dominion, this gave her an incentive to make sure he lived.

 

[null3]

"Sir, it's about time to go."

Harris looked up at Wills and frowned. I'm going down to the docking port to close the doors, when it's closed, you launch.

"Yes sir."

Commander Wills nodded and saluted as the Admiral stood. Harris turned to the back of the hanger and walked back. As the doors to the hallways opened, Harris stopped for a moment, he began looking around at all the people in the hallways, standing, and sitting in the corners.

"Officer on deck!"

One if the officers yelled and the men began to salute. Harris shook his head, told the mend to relax, and then began moving through the crowd. He rounded a corner and came to the doorway of the docking port. He looked as a storm trooper in red approached.

"Come aboard sergeant, we are cramped, but you are welcome."

The storm trooper looked at him and thanked him.

"What's your name son?"

"I am TK-7475, Sergeant Jack Vickers"

"It's an honor."

 

[Deadeye]

Deadeye''s fighter came out of hyperspace, it hung lifeless over the battlefield. Inside the cockpit Deadened scanned the Battlefield and spotted Harris' ship.

"Not in such a good spot, are you William? X, scan the throne for any sort of escape vessels."

Suddenly a floating red holographic pyramid appeared at his council, a robotic voice came out, "Scanning." There was a pause, "There is a corvette docked in the bottom, there is a 93% chance that the target is there. Marking I nav point to the nearest functional docking port."

Deadeye thanked the AI and flew to the docking port. He connected to the ship and entered the throne.

"Plot me a way there."

"On it,"the voice replied.

Deadeye turned down the corridor and began running, He was so close. He rushed past some rubble and rounded another corner. He shoulder charged a peace of metal and it colapsed behind him as he continued.

"Turn right, we are 45 meters out."

Deadeye followed the instructions, he turned and stopped. He seen the admiral in the doorway, talking to a stormtrooper, now was his chance. The stormtrooper entered and Harris began to turn.

Deadeye raised his pistol and a holographic cross hair projected outside the part of the visor over his right eye. He steadied the pistol and aimed at Harris' head and gently squeezed the trigger, somewhat hesitant.

 

[null3]

"Get Aboard Sergeant Vickers."

The storm trooper thanked him and Harris turned, he was about to close the door, but the he felt something. It was deep inside him, but it was strong, a voice telling him to turn, he pulled his hand from the control panel and turned to see deadeye, aiming at his dead down the hallway.

"It been a while Deadeye, who'd I piss off this time?"

The bounty hunter, shocked, pulled the trigger. Harri's rapidly moved his hand up to protect his head from the bolt, as he shifted, a peace of metal, down in the hallway , rolled over in front of the bolt and saved harris.

The sergeant whipped around to the sound of the blaster fire and was about to fire, but froze at the fact that Harris just unintentionally moved the peice of metal down the hallway to protect him. The moment was over, Jack was nervous but instinctively fired down the hallway. Harris had now moved behind the door frame for cover and the passengers now had began duking to avoid getting hit at any returning fire.

Deadeye ducked behind a cubby in the corridor, he didn't have time to process what just happened, he waited a moment and drew a second pistol, he then jumped from cover and opened fire while simultaneously charging Harris.

The bolts from the blasters struck the doorway and Harris kept his head down. This what it, he had to close the doors and launch. If he didn't now, he wouldn't have time to get away. He checked his compad, the timer read 3 minutes till the ship blows.

Harris stepped out of cover and looked at the charging bounty hunter.

"Leave my men and I alone. Stop!"

As Harris yelled stop and raised his hand, something came over Deadeye, everything was in slow motiom, he felt a small contact on his chest that suddenly felt the pressure like he was being shoved, he fell backwards and slid several feet back.

Harris lowered his hand and looked at it in shock.

"Sir!"

"Close the damn door vickers!

Harris looked at deadeye as the door shut. A rush of emotions came over him as he processed the events, mostly confusion though. TK-7475 looked at Harris, the officers began to stand and look at Harris as well, all in shock, most of them as confused as him. Harris looked at the men and scanned all there faces.

He finally look blankly ahead, motioned for Vickers to follow him.

"I'll be in the bridge."

 

[Haon Hafey]

Another small explosion was seen from the outside, the Alarm pushing through as it had destroyed yet another Frigate in its wake as they were fortunate enough to get out of its way this time as the ships own alarm was going off as people were running around. The Alarm was not made for this style of combat though while it was powerful, in prolonged engagements, this probably is not a good idea.


"Sir we are at 28% on the deflector shields. We are charging still but it is slow."

"Divert all power from engines to shields. I want to be ready for that next one."


The second frigate looked a bit slower which was the only guess he could take from it though at that moment. Letting the Alarm sit in open space, he kept the people busy as they were still near the transports which allowed them to defend it against their small fighter craft though the moment they engage a larger ship, that is their primary focus. Within two minutes, shields were back at forty percent power though the Frigate was opening up something, aiming right at them as Haon tried to scream.


"BRAC-"


Then it was silence. A large beam of energy was shot out towards the Alarm as sparks flew inside the command bridge. It lasted for just two seconds but soon as it happened, it was over. Smoke filled the room as one of the technicians were putting out a fire nearby as Haon barely held the chair, groaning from just the impact.


"SIR! Deflector Shields are down! Ionic is down at Eighteen percent! We cannot take another hit like that!"

"I get tha-did you say Ionic is basically holding?"

"Yes sir, it absorbed a large portion of its impact."

"I want the shields diverted to Ionic...until then, we are taking down that damn frigate. Classify it for records as a Destroyer and prepare my ship."


Haon got up rather quickly, going towards the elevator as he went inside, tapping at his comn link and when the doors opened, five droids were ready as the ships were prepped to go, looking out towards the Destroyer whom he had not properly named yet. Motioning them towards the Z-95s, Haon would slowly climb into the Crystal-class Clawcraft as he checked for his armament status which thankfully, heavy rockets since that is what he always ordered onto all his craft.


"Crystal One is ready for launch. Snake squad, we are to eliminate that Destroyer, follow my lead and divert power to shields and engines, keeping the weapons cold."


The ships slowly ascended before taking off as blaster fire still erupted from the Alarm, fending off any of the fighter swarms still present. The Destroyer was getting closer, like a looming figure in the night as Haon finally got a good look at it. What he classified as a Frigate was pretty accurate but for what type of monstrosity it really was, that was up for debate. It WAS a destroyer when you see the weaponry installed but it looked like a hybrid of everything you ever expected on a Frigate, as if no one could make up its mind. Relaying some target information, he started to push the throttle as they approached right in the middle of the Destroyer as he tried to think of its next action though right at that, a small tentacle like arm lashed out and grabbed a Z-95, smashing it against its own bulkhead with a thunderous explosion. Breaking off, weapons were powered back on and started to fight all around it, blasting away any of its appendages it can see. This went on for over a minute until a bright light started to fill the screen. The Destroyer was charging the beam again, whatever the weapon it was called though he noticed something else, it was opening a small cylinder right around it and it glowed separate from the rest.


"ARM ALL HEAVY ROCKETS! HIT RIGHT AT THAT CYLINDER!"


The Crystal and the four Z-95s Diverted, somehow making a pentagram like formation as they rapidly fired a total of ten heavy rockets. The Beam kept charging up though the moment the first rocket hit, it started to falter for a moment before the rest started to collapse and Haon noticed something he only seen twice and in numerous holoinformats.


"Reactor is going! All power to speed!"


Pushing their fighters to the limit, they started to fly away from the Destroyer as the light kept getting brighter and brighter around the Destroyer until finally, it completely collapsed as a small energy bubble pushed out before imploding as a shockwave ripped through space, hitting different ships around them including the Harris's Throne which took only the tip off, shaking other ships in the area if they were close to the shockwave ring. The fighters finally settled from their shockwave impact as Haon gave the order to refuel and restock on ammunition as they headed back towards the Alarm. To count, that was three frigates now out of action though the Alarm was barely holding with Ionic now at fifty percent with Deflector being at ten percent. If they get ambushed at any time, it may result in the corvettes destruction.


"Damn it...hurry up, I cannot keep doing the hotshot moves forever."

 

[WD-334]

WD-334 with sufficient cover from all of it's forces managed to get the reinforcements to push through, and as soon as all were past the enemy line, the began to fall back onto the boarding transport. WD did not know just how long was left before the ship was to explode, so time was of the essence. As soon as they were aboard, the transport lifted and moved out of the hangar, headed back for the Obsidian Fist. Once far enough, the Star Destroyer disengaged the boarding tube from [member="Fleet Admiral Harris"]'s ship and tried desperately to move away, and so did the Obsidian.

[member="Haon Hafey"] @Ra'a'mah [member="HK-36"] [member="AD-8"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Nuuc Lapt"],

"Roger that Captain Unzum Jelt of the Frontier-class corvette Salvation."

Came a response to the Sullustan from aboard one of the dropships still heading towards Harris' ill-fated Star Destroyer, still entangled together with the large Kraken-Class Deep One Cruiser as activity buzzed around them and the exchange of fire between two sides still did not died down,

"We have reinforcements going in to hold the evacuation sites while the crew are abandoning the ship, we need you to come in close and hot, protect our boys getting off of that wreck, Lord Admiral decided to sacrifice his ship to take out the Kraken-class with it, we do not have a lot of time, they are almost finished but they will be left vulnerable to the Squid Fighters once they leave."

HK informed the mercenary and his crew, hoping that their corvette will be enough to assure safe return of their sailors. Their chances rose dramatically suddenly however, and hope did with them as [member="Haon Hafey"] and [member="Kyle Raymus"] jumped into action with even more ships, hearing the distress call, and probably knowing that Metal Lords usually paid rather well to those fighting alongside them, and deciding to get involved.

"Captain Haon, Captain Unzum, and identified allied fleet, I want you to link up, right now our priority is cutting clean way towards Lord Admiral Harris' hangar and escorting out dropships carrying evacuating crew to our capital ships. Any corvettes, frigates, or fighters that stand in their way, I want you to take care of before they fire even a single shot. Captain Haon take point."

HK did not have to tell the man again it seems as Haon was all too eager to jump into combat, as the Alarm begun to perform their hot-shot manouvers and started to release their Clawcraft to meet and tussle with the enemy forces. HK knew that with the might and skills of the three men combined they should provide more than enough cover Ra needed to push her way in and provide Harris with the evacuation dropship necessary to get his men off of the sinking vessel.


Meanwhile,

As [member="WD-334"] boarded his ship and his forces begun to pull out he could see more dropships from the Metal Lords, same for @Admiral Harris as he stood on his bridge, the dropships with the mark of the Lord Protector Above Denon and those sent in by [member="AD-8"], finally making their way to Harris's vessel just in time to participate in the last round of evacuations along with Ra. Pushing into one of the hangars the ramp of HK's dropship opened and lowered down, the tall Metal Lord stepping out with his black cloak billowing in the wind as he commanded the evacuating crew men gathered,

"Get on, come on!"

Hurrying them up they would rush towards him, boarding the transport as few of the Thralls under control of the squids rounded the corner, only to come under fire by the troops HK brought with him, quickly getting pinned down or torn to shreds by the various bolters, blasters, and shatterguns HK equipped his soldiers with, able to protect Harris' crew until the dropship was packed with them.

 

[null3]

The thrusters launched the Raider away from the throne. Harris sat at the bridge quietly.

"Sir, the fighter escort is ready. We can now jump to Hyperspace."

"Got it Commander. Hail the rest of the fleet, and prepare to rendezvous in the Colomus system."

"Yes sir."

The ship shook and rocked, Harris grabbed on to his chair and looked at the blinking button on his chair. He waited for Wills to end his conversation, then pushed it. The figures on the holotable disappeared and then the ship jumped to hyperspace.

Upon entering the system, the ship rocked and creaked. Harris stood and scanned the windows with his eyes.

"Commander, how far are we from the ship?"

"We are close sir, it's on the other side if moon."

Harris looked up at the copper moon hanging peacefully in the distant vaccum, he almost didn't notice it before.

The ships engines kicked into full power and they began quickly approaching the moon, as the ship scrapped over the moons atmosphere and came around the planet, Harris' jaw dropped.

"That's it sir, beginning docking process."

Harris looked at the ship. It was no doubt bigger than his old one by more than double. It was absolutely massive. Harris rise from his chair and turned towards the back of the bridge. The ship began buckling again. Harris opened the doors to the hall and the chattering stopped instantly.

"Ladies and gentlmen, we are docking with our new ship and the rest of the crew shall hopefully be arriving soon after. Once we dock, we will turn on the lights to the corridors in the bridge and you will all make your way to you quarters. Unpack any small things you scavenged In the escape and get some shut eye. It's been a long day."

The crew cheered and clapped.

The door to the docking port opened, the ship pressurized and the crew stepped out. The lights of the hallway flickered on and the crew dropped the few bags they had. They looked around.

"There is a monorail that goes down the length of the ship, we will boards a couple at a time and your will be dropped off at your assigned bunks. I will be with the sergeant, and the commander in the bridge."

Harris turned and motioned for the two to follow. And they did. They walked along the hallway quietly for a bit and Harris followed the displays and signs to the bridge. At last, they reached an elevator that Lead them the last bit of the way. The doors shut and they rode the elevators up silently. The doors to the bridge opened.

"Lieutenant, you and blackout can show yourselves."

Harris rounded the corner and seen the scientists moving packages around and expensive equipment into place. A group of stormtroopers in black armor appeared in the middle of the room, light bent around them to form their silhouette until finally they were fully visable.

"You can take your helmet off Richardson."

The trooper with a red helmet marking pushed a button on the side of his head, there was a mechanical clank followed by depressurization noises. The helmet came off to reveal a man with close shaved brown hair and stubble, a cybernetic left eye and a weary look in his other.

"Good day sir. Who is the new guy?"

"This is Sergeant Vickers, a sentinel who hitched a ride with us, he seen what happened first hand."

"I'm assuming that's why the science department is setting up shop here?"

"Yes."

Harris turned to one of the scientists and got his attention.

"Hey, how long till I can get tested."

"Less than a minute sir. We will check your midichlorians first."

The scientist pulled out a small device and poked Harris' finger.

"Please sit Admiral, we can begin the tests now."

Harris waited in a seat for the scientist to return, he tried to reach out, hard with this new found ability. He found the connection, now he was pulling from it, he could feel the force around him. Harris meditated deeply. The Scientists walked back in.

"Sir, your midichlorian count is way higher than that of an average person, I am no force wielder, but you appear to be more sensitive and I belive you releasing anger on the bounty hunter back on the old throne just awoke something deep within you. I would recommend talking to the Lords about this, they can help."

"I don't want them to know yet, the crew seem and the rest of the fleet will be alerted and made aware of this, but I have a personal contact that can help. A contact who was around during the times of the dominion, who could probably help me."

The scientists agreed.

"How goes Project Serpant?"

"We are ahead of schedule. I'd prefer not talk about this here, but with the bigger science lab, and newer tech, we should be capable to finish ithe within two rotations."

"Thanks Doctor."

The doctor left and the scientists, carrying their gear, followed. Harris walked up to the Holotable and looked at the system map, Multiple contacts came out of hyperspace close and hailed.

The crew had made it out alive.

 

[Nuuc Lapt]

[member="HK-36"] | [member="Lord Harris"] | [member="WD-334"] | [member="Haon Hafey"] | [member="Xardas"]

Bridge

"Copy that," Unzum replied, his bridge crew taking note and altering their course. "We will cover the port side from fighter attack."

He turned Zhay. "All quad cannons and the forward flak cannon are clear to fire at will on those fighters."

After the Wookiee replied in his growling vocalizations, he turned to Hugo. "Put me through to the hangar."

With a nod, Hugo patched him through.

"Green Squadron, you are clear to drop. I repeat, you are clear to drop. Engage any and all fighters assaulting those transport ships. Time to earn your pay, Nuuc."

"Captain," said the Rodian officer in charge of their sensor arrays. "Shall we begin scanning those frigates for weaknesses?"

"Worth a try, but if things get too hot we're putting more power towards weapons and shields."

He nodded, and got to work as the ship rocked to the side, taking its first hit of the battle. Zhay spoke, and Unzum nodded. The hit wasn't too harsh, the shields would more than hold. But it wasn't Unzum's first time in a zone this hot. If that kept up, they'd be in trouble. He sighed, wishing he had a bigger ship.

-----

Hangar

-----

"I repeat, you are clear to drop."

Those were the words Nuuc had been waiting to hear since they received the distress call. He was already in the cockpit of his MRF-1, his R8 unit locked into position, and the rest of his squad on standby. With the order came a cheering over his comms from the twins Luca and Mica, their bomber pilots. To call them bombers in this regard however would be a misnomer. Despite the lone heavy laser cannon that the bomber configuration possessed, they also carried enough missile ordnance each to take out an entire fighter wing.

"Here we go, folks," Nuuc said over his comm unit, hitting the clamp release and getting into position for exit. "Remember, keep close to your wingman or woman and don't split off for an easy kill. That's how you get ganged up on."

"Are you still on that one, Nuuc?" asked Nudrexi, her displeasure clear as she reverted linguistically to her Zabraki mother tongue. "It was three years ago, let it die already."

He laughed as he engaged the throttle, zooming through the hangar doorway into the open expanse of space. "Can't deny that it's a good lesson, Rex."

Nuuc was soon joined by the rest of his squad, with the twins following him immediately out, then Rex. Caz Ward and Sar followed, pairing each with one of the twins as Eddikri joined with Rex. The last to exit was Airi, his wingwoman. She was always last, but when it came to combat, there wasn't any other in his squad he'd rather be paired with. The rest were strong pilots, but she was the only one he truly considered near his level. He often considered the fact that the only thing that made him a better pilot of the two of them was his connection to the Force. Were it not for that she would be far to his superior.

"What exactly are we fighting, Nuuc?" she asked as they got into formation. "Captain didn't give us much to go on."

"Whatever the skrog those are."

Caz's interruption came as three squid fighters darted towards the Salvation, their enemy clearly having already marked them as a threat.

"Airi, let's do what we came here to do," Nuuc said as they rolled out of formation, dropping to give chase without any further need to organize. "The rest of you, break off and keep those transports safe. Good hunting."

The squid fighters weren't too sturdy, as they soon discovered. Nuuc and Airi lined up behind them, picking the targets at port and starboard, before squeezing their triggers simultaneously. The alternating paired fire of their autocannons reduced their prey to scraps in two seconds of fire as the third began to pull off with them in close pursuit.

"Third one's mine," Airi called over their comms. Nuuc simply laughed, having figured she'd want it.

"All yours, Airi."

The Twi'lek pilot pulled ahead as Nuuc eased off, allowing her to take point behind their quarry. The chase was over too soon, however, as it took too long in a flat trajectory. She opened up with the single heavy cannon and two of her autocannons, tearing through whatever deflector shields it may have had and leaving what was left to the vacuum of space.

He could almost hear the smirk she was likely wearing.

"That felt good," she said, keeping her voice in check though he knew how much she enjoyed what she did. "Let's go find some more."

"Copy that," Nuuc replied, laughing as they paired back up to join the offensive.

 

[Riamah]

Even with the chaos of the evacuation going on around her, there was no mistake in her feeling the use of the Force near to her. Who it came from, she could not tell. Whoever it was though, was uncontrolled and new. This person had just used it for the first time or so she assumed. A person that used the Force could easily hide their ability from others, she herself did.

There were very few organics within the hierarchy of the Metal Lords and Ra had the feeling this had come from somebody up the food chain. She was pretty sure the Lords themselves couldn't use the Force. Something for her to look into after this fiasco got cleared up, everybody was away, safe and she could ask. Not so much as probe gently and from the shadows. Until she got more evidence as to who, at least, then she would approach that person.

Formerly of the head of intelligence within the Dominion, Ra knew how to get information and not be obvious about it.

The daze lasted just a moment before she returned her focus on her objective. Get these men out of the failing ship.